TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1990

In a dramatic concession to South Africa’s Black majority, President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1653

New Amsterdam — now New York City — was incorporated.

1876

The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs was formed in New York.

1914

Charles Chaplin made his movie debut as the comedy short “Making a Living.”

1925

The legendary Alaska Serum Run ended as the last of a series of dog mushers brought a life-saving treatment to Nome, the scene of a diphtheria epidemic, six days after the drug left Nenana.

1943

The remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.

1988

President Ronald Reagan pressed his case for additional aid to the Nicaraguan Contras a day ahead of a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives.

2006

House Republicans elected John Boehner of Ohio as their new majority leader to replace the indicted Tom DeLay. Tornadoes tore through New Orleans neighborhoods that had been hit hard by Hurricane Katrina five months earlier.

2014

Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, was found dead in his New York apartment from a combination of heroin, cocaine and other drugs.

2016

Health officials reported that a person in Texas had become infected with the Zika virus in the first case of the illness transmitted within the U.S.